From the start of the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1803 to the San
Francisco Earthquake in 1906, a great historical drama unfolded on
the American frontier. The era of the Wild West was a century-long
period characterized by ceaseless exploration, wagon trains
straining westward, cattle drives, Indian wars, gunfights,
wandering trappers and mountainmen, cowboys, rustlers,
stagecoaches, and gold. What a century! Among the many fascinating
stories recounted in this book are: Meriwether Lewis's first-ever
Indian fight; The desperate search during the Lewis and Clark
expedition for a passageway through the Rocky Mountains before
winter struck; Bespectacled Easterner Teddy Roosevelt's rude
treatment in the Dakota Badlands in the 1880s; The high drama of
the San Francisco Earthquake; Anecdotes that follow the
construction of the transcontinental railroad; The western
explorations of topographical engineer Stephen Long; The courageous
army officer who held the Indians of the Southwest at bay during
the Civil War; The criminal adventures of the Dalton Gang; The work
of the explorer-botanist David Douglas; The story behind Boothill
in Tombstone, Arizona; The legend of Butch Cassidy and the Wild
Bunch; Little-known lawman Thomas J. Smith of Abilene